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New York closed home sales jump 43 percent in May
Pending sales nearly double ALBANY, N.Y. — New York realtors sold 10,694 previously-owned homes in May, up 43.2 percent from 7,467 homes sold in the year-ago month as the housing market stayed hot. Pending sales in May went up even more, almost doubling, indicating that further large increases in closed sales are coming in in […]
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Pending sales nearly double
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York realtors sold 10,694 previously-owned homes in May, up 43.2 percent from 7,467 homes sold in the year-ago month as the housing market stayed hot.
Pending sales in May went up even more, almost doubling, indicating that further large increases in closed sales are coming in in the next couple of months. That’s according to the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR)’s May housing-market report issued June 22.
“The housing market in the Empire State continues to surge…” NYSAR said to open its May report.
Sales data
Pending sales in New York totaled 15,775 in May, up more than 91 percent from 8,245 in May 2020, according to the NYSAR data.
Amid the rising sales, inventory remained tight, which fueled surging house prices.
The May 2021 statewide median sales price rocketed 29 percent higher to $357,000 from $276,000 a year ago.
The months supply of homes for sale at the end of May stood at 2.9 months, down from 5 months in May 2020. A 6 month to 6.5-month supply is considered to be a balanced market, NYSAR notes.
The inventory of homes for sale totaled 40,776 homes this May, down 18.5 percent from 50,038 homes in the same month a year ago.
Central New York data
The Central New York real-estate market also remained strong in May.
Realtors in Onondaga County sold 342 previously owned homes in the fifth month of the year, up 1.2 percent from the 338 they sold in May 2020. The median sales price rose 15.6 percent to $185,000 in May from $160,000 a year prior, according to the NYSAR report.
The association also reported that realtors sold 131 homes in Oneida County in May, up 3.1 percent from 127 in May 2020. The median sales price increased 25.4 percent to $175,500 from $140,000 a year earlier.
Realtors in Broome County sold 148 existing homes in May, up 31 percent from 113 a year ago, according to the NYSAR report. The median sales price rose nearly 27 percent to $145,900 from $115,000 in May 2020.
In Jefferson County, realtors closed on 128 homes in May, up 54.2 percent from 83 a year before, and the median sales price of nearly $175,000 was almost 24 percent higher than $141,500 a year prior, according to the NYSAR data.
All home-sales data is compiled from multiple-listing services in New York state and it includes townhomes and condominiums in addition to existing single-family homes, according to NYSAR.

ANCA hires Cooper as new executive director
SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. — The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) board of directors on July 1 announced that Elizabeth Cooper will succeed Kate Fish as executive director. Fish has led the rural economic-development organization for 12 years. Cooper will begin work at the association on July 12, ANCA said. ANCA is an independent, nonprofit corporation
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SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. — The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) board of directors on July 1 announced that Elizabeth Cooper will succeed Kate Fish as executive director.
Fish has led the rural economic-development organization for 12 years. Cooper will begin work at the association on July 12, ANCA said.
ANCA is an independent, nonprofit corporation that works to promote economic development across a 14-county region of Northern New York, with a focus on entrepreneurship, local agriculture, and clean energy.
Cooper has “significant experience” in private sector, supply-chain analysis and management, and as a captain in the New York Air National Guard. She is recognized as a leader in community development and as an entrepreneur in the region, ANCA contends.
Cooper lives in Lake Placid, after having grown up in Star Lake in St. Lawrence County. She is CEO and owner of Coffee Fever in Star Lake, which she launched in June 2015, per her LinkedIn profile.
“Elizabeth’s experience as a small-business owner, her work in community development and her global experience made her stand out from a pool of 54 applicants from as far away as London, England; South Africa; Texas and Nevada,” Jim Sonneborn, chair of the ANCA board of directors, said in a release. “It will enable her to lead ANCA in strengthening local food and clean energy systems as well as the entrepreneurial economy.”
Cooper graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1999, before serving in the New York Air National Guard in both active and reserve capacities for nine years. In this role, Cooper was commander of the maintenance operations flight, supervising aircraft- maintenance personnel in both Scotia in Schenectady County and McMurdo Bay, Antarctica.
She worked in logistics for Target Corporation, before earning an MBA degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy in 2006. Cooper subsequently took a position with Accenture, a Fortune 500 multinational company that provides consulting and processing services, where she led an international team from its New York City headquarters in developing 24-hour supply-chain services for clients.
In 2009, Cooper returned to the Adirondacks, where she worked as community-development coordinator for the Towns of Clifton and Fine from 2009 to 2013. During this time, she coordinated efforts to rehabilitate the J&L site, increase broadband access, and administer local waterfront-revitalization grants.

SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Skaneateles Artisans: Creatively pivoting through COVID
SKANEATELES — During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last holiday season, Skaneateles Artisans owner Teresa Vitale found herself in a similar position to many other retail brick-and-mortar business owners. Revenue was waning due to a lack of customers who were appropriately social distancing at home and either reducing their purchasing or relying on e-commerce
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SKANEATELES — During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last holiday season, Skaneateles Artisans owner Teresa Vitale found herself in a similar position to many other retail brick-and-mortar business owners.
Revenue was waning due to a lack of customers who were appropriately social distancing at home and either reducing their purchasing or relying on e-commerce outlets.
Vitale never thought her creative necessity at that time would become a new line of business. But fact is, she moved well past pivoting, and has evolved, all the while managing to not only keep Skaneateles Artisans in operation, but also start a new business line called “Tinsel Town Arts by Teresa Vitale.”
Tinsel Town Arts is a new line of custom-decoration services that grew out of Teresa’s storefront decorations at Skaneateles Artisans. She designed and built a display of colorful and whimsical Christmas-present packages stacked on top of each other and framing the front-door entrance of her shop on the ground floor of the historic Old Stone Mill at 3 Fennell St. in the village of Skaneateles.
This story doesn’t quickly end here though, as evidenced by an event which would challenge her spirit. A young man recklessly drove a vehicle through the village and crashed into the display, destroying most of it.
Vitale acknowledges that “the gallery was not financially prepared for the challenges of being closed during the COVID shutdown.” She reached out to the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Onondaga Community College and me for help navigating the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applications in March 2020.
Over a series of conversations and advising sessions, Teresa was able to successfully apply for and receive both assistance packages — the EIDL loan from the Small Business Administration, and the PPP reimbursable loan from M&T Bank. Vitale kept the business operating with 110 artists’ work on display for sale on commission and emerged with her best sales totals for the month of May in the 14-year history of her business.
“The SBDC and Mr. Cetera helped in the survival of Skaneateles Artisans. I would not have made it through COVID shutdown, without Mr. Cetera’s guidance,” Vitale said.
Once Teresa had stabilized the Skaneateles Artisans gallery with SBDC advising and coaching, during the slow business time of the pandemic, and coupled with the driving-accident incident, she recognized that she had been “given the opportunity of not only being able to start a new business, but also having a preexisting location where she can sell the art, making it all seem very possible and real.” Over the years, visitors to the gallery have always wanted to purchase the gift boxes that she created around the gallery — and now they can.
“Tinsel Town Arts by Teresa Vitale” began as a collection of beautiful handmade garlands, wreaths, and decorative boxes stacked like topiary. Materials used for the decoration are designed to withstand the exterior elements and can be enjoyed for years to come.
During a site visit to the gallery store, the energy and enthusiasm that Teresa exhibited was palpable. One customer shared her thoughts that the visit “was so fun” as she walked out with a colorful glass platter carefully packaged for the return leg of a motorcycle road trip between Arkansas and Acadia National Park in Maine, demonstrating how much of a destination Skaneateles Artisans is itself within the destination village of Skaneateles.
Teresa is continuing to work closely with her SBDC advisor to navigate financing and funding programs for the Skaneateles Artisans gallery, all the while making lemonade out of lemons and not letting the spirit-crushing damage to her storefront display keep her down. With smiling faces visible from the freedom of masks, vaccinated against COVID, Teresa received some new pieces of woodwork from one of the artisans on display and greeted patrons, both new and old.
Advisor’s business tip: The COVID pandemic made sure everyone in the business world was acutely aware that change is inevitable. Consider your strategy for staying aware of, and implementing change, on pace rather than being late. Now that the e-commerce and remote-work genies are out of the bottle, and are being implemented regularly, what’s next? Read online business blogs, join industry associations, have frequent conversations with your business advisors, and make the commitment to objectively evaluate your business on the regular.
Frank Cetera is an advanced certified business advisor at the SBDC located at Onondaga Community College. Contact him at ceteraf@sunyocc.edu


Pinnacle leases more than 14,000 square feet in new DeWitt building
DeWITT, N.Y. — Pinnacle Holding Company, LLC recently signed a lease and took occupancy of 14,431 square feet of office space at a new building at 5845 Widewaters Parkway in DeWitt. The financial-services and employee-benefits firm moved its headquarters there from its prior location in the Franklin Square area of Syracuse. Cory LaDuke, Stephen Scuderi,
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DeWITT, N.Y. — Pinnacle Holding Company, LLC recently signed a lease and took occupancy of 14,431 square feet of office space at a new building at 5845 Widewaters Parkway in DeWitt.
The financial-services and employee-benefits firm moved its headquarters there from its prior location in the Franklin Square area of Syracuse.
Cory LaDuke, Stephen Scuderi, and John Clark, of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company, exclusively represented the landlord, The Widewaters Group, in the transaction, according to a news release from Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage.
The Widewaters Group and Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage are also tenants in the recently constructed office building. The one-story structure has a total of 44,100 square feet and was built in 2020, according to Onondaga County’s online property records
VIEWPOINT: Ask Rusty: Can I Get a Higher SS Benefit Now Because I’m Older?
Dear Rusty: I started getting Social Security (SS) at age 62 and I am now 77. Can I get a higher benefit now that I’m older? Signed: Needy Senior Dear Needy Senior: Probably not. When you first start collecting your Social Security retirement benefits (e.g., at age 62 or any other age) your SS benefit
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Dear Rusty: I started getting Social Security (SS) at age 62 and I am now 77. Can I get a higher benefit now that I’m older?
Signed: Needy Senior
Dear Needy Senior: Probably not. When you first start collecting your Social Security retirement benefits (e.g., at age 62 or any other age) your SS benefit amount is permanently established and will change thereafter only in the following circumstances.
• A cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is granted (which is usually done annually, starting with your payment in January of each year). There have only been three years in the last four decades that a COLA increase didn’t automatically occur. This year’s COLA increase was 1.3 percent.
• You later became eligible for a higher spousal benefit because your husband started collecting benefits after you first claimed, and your benefit amount at your full retirement age (FRA) was less than 50 percent of your husband’s FRA benefit amount.
• You later became eligible for a higher survivor benefit because your husband passed away and his Social Security benefit was more than you were receiving (you would need to apply separately for your survivor benefit).
• You had later earnings, which were higher than any of the 35 years over your lifetime used to originally compute your benefit when you first applied. Past-years’ earnings are adjusted for inflation, so original earnings amounts in prior years are increased to today’s dollar value to see if your recent earnings are higher.
If you are working, Social Security monitors your earnings (and your contributions through payroll taxes) every year to see if you are due a benefit increase and, if appropriate, it is automatically given. COLA increases are also automatically given effective with each December’s benefit (paid in January) if such an increase is appropriate due to inflation as measured by the national Consumer Price Index. So, the only other possible way your current benefit could be increased now is if: 1) you didn’t claim a spousal benefit when you were eligible and you are still eligible because your husband is still living, or, 2) your husband is now deceased, and you didn’t apply for a higher survivor benefit you were entitled to when he died. If either of those are true, then you should contact the Social Security Administration to request your higher benefit.
You do not, however, get a benefit increase simply because you are now older than you were when you first claimed Social Security. COLA will slightly increase your benefit automatically most years, but unless one or more of the other conditions above apply, your benefits won’t change further as you age.
Russell Gloor is a certified Social Security advisor with the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC). The 2.3 million member AMAC says it is a senior advocacy organization. Send your questions to: SSadvisor@amacfoundation.org.
Author note: This article is intended for information purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the AMAC Foundation’s staff, trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA). The NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity.

NYCC renamed Northeast College of Health Sciences
SENECA FALLS, N.Y. — New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) in Seneca Falls is now known as Northeast College of Health Sciences. The new name — which New York State approved June 7 — was chosen to “best reflect the transforming scope” of educational opportunities offered at the college and to support the “evolving range of
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SENECA FALLS, N.Y. — New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) in Seneca Falls is now known as Northeast College of Health Sciences.
The new name — which New York State approved June 7 — was chosen to “best reflect the transforming scope” of educational opportunities offered at the college and to support the “evolving range of growing” health-care professions, the college said in a June 8 announcement.
Changing the college’s name has “long been discussed,” the school noted. The effort was formally addressed in the NYCC BLUEprint Strategic Plan 2018-2021. In June 2019, the NYCC board of trustees voted unanimously for a name change.
The process was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the state granted NYCC authorization for the new name this June.
The Northeast College of Health Sciences says it “remains committed to its strong foundation” of chiropractic education and plans to continue growing its Doctor of Chiropractic program while developing new academic programs to support in-demand career paths.
“As we continue to prepare our students to be leaders in an ever-more diverse variety of healthcare disciplines, it is fitting that our strong history of academic excellence in chiropractic will remain as our college’s core,” Dr. Michael Mestan, president of Northeast College Health Sciences, said in a release.
The college’s history
In operation for more than 100 years, the school’s original name was Columbia Institute of Chiropractic (CIC), founded by Frank Dean in New York City in 1919.
In the 1970s, CIC became New York Chiropractic College, moving to Long Island and receiving accreditation of its Doctor of Chiropractic program from the Council on Chiropractic Education.
The college moved to its third location in Seneca Falls in 1991, expanding onto a 286-acre campus with space for new facilities. They included a library, athletic center, and residence halls. Another academic expansion in the early 2000s resulted in the addition of graduate degrees in disciplines that included applied clinical nutrition along with human anatomy & physiology instruction.
Northeast College of Health Sciences says it had a “strong” enrollment for its spring 2021 doctor of chiropractic program, seating its largest incoming spring cohort since 2018.
A recent report from the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York (CICU) indicates Northeast College of Health Sciences contributed an estimated $65 million to the state’s economy in 2019 and was responsible for a total estimated employment of close to 600 jobs, the college said.

CDC awards New York nearly $69 million to address COVID-19-related health disparities
The CDC recently announced it has awarded Health Research Inc. (agent for New York State Department of Health) and the Fund for Public Health in New York (agent for NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) more than $68.6 million to address COVID-19-related health disparities. The funding, part of a $2.25 billion nationwmide investment, seeks to “advance
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The CDC recently announced it has awarded Health Research Inc. (agent for New York State Department of Health) and the Fund for Public Health in New York (agent for NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) more than $68.6 million to address COVID-19-related health disparities.
The funding, part of a $2.25 billion nationwmide investment, seeks to “advance health equity” by expanding state, local, U.S. territorial, and freely associated state health departments’ capacity and services, the CDC said in a release.
The intended outcomes of these grants are to: 1) reduce COVID-19-related health disparities; 2) improve and increase testing and contact tracing among populations that are at higher risk and are underserved, including racial and ethnic-minority groups and people living in rural communities; and, 3) improve state, local, U.S. territorial, and freely associated state health department capacity and services to prevent and control COVID-19 infection.
“The pandemic has laid bare longstanding health inequities, and health departments are on the front line of efforts to address those inequities,” Dr. José T. Montero, director of CDC’s Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support, said. “These grants will provide these health departments with much needed support to address disparities in communities that need it most.”
The full list of state, local, and territorial health departments receiving the grants can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/docs/partnerships/OT21-2103-Awardees.pdf
This initiative is funded through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021.

Herkimer County announces community survey for age-friendly initiatives
HERKIMER, N,Y. — The Herkimer County Age Friendly Coalition has launched a survey to determine peoples’ needs as they age in the various Herkimer County communities. The state awarded Herkimer County Office for the Aging and Herkimer County HealthNet $20,000 in funding from the Aging Age-Friendly Planning grant program. The survey is one of the
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HERKIMER, N,Y. — The Herkimer County Age Friendly Coalition has launched a survey to determine peoples’ needs as they age in the various Herkimer County communities.
The state awarded Herkimer County Office for the Aging and Herkimer County HealthNet $20,000 in funding from the Aging Age-Friendly Planning grant program. The survey is one of the projects identified in support of the grant’s work plan.
The Age-Friendly Planning Initiative seeks to create at the county level a “replicable version” of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order to incorporate relevant age-friendly healthy policies and principles aimed at improving the health and wellness of people of all ages.
The Office for the Aging will be collaborating with HealthNet and a coalition of more than a dozen organizations with outreach to the community, including the survey in both hard-copy and online versions. The survey can be accessed at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KWVVVSX.
The survey questions reflect the work associated with the grant by considering the American Association of Retired Persons’ (AARP) eight domains of livable communities and “Smart Growth” reforms including — but not limited to — transportation, civic engagement, and socialization.
“It is important to determine the needs in each of our county’s communities for the overall aging population,” Kathy Fox, director of the Herkimer County Office for the Aging, said. “This initiative will ultimately benefit the health of people of all ages.” The Office for the Aging’s work with Herkimer County HealthNet aligns with promoting health among individuals in Herkimer County, Fox noted.
“We understand and have learned that it is a priority for people to live independently in their homes as they age,” Elyse Enea, executive director of Herkimer County HealthNet, said. “So we want to learn more about the needs in each of our communities in Herkimer County and work on them to maintain this independence.”
Enea also stressed that this grant supports the work that the Herkimer County Office for the Aging, HealthNet and its partners are working on which supports HealthNet’s mission to improve the health and well-being of individuals who live, work, play, and learn in Herkimer County.

Samaritan Medical Center opens new imaging center
WATERTOWN, N.Y. — Samaritan Medical Center (SMC) has opened a new community-based imaging facility inside its Health and Wellness Plaza location at 1575 Washington St. in Watertown. The imaging center’s opening is the culmination of an agreement finalized in February between Samaritan and the now closed Northern Radiology Imaging (NRI). In the agreement, Samaritan purchased
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WATERTOWN, N.Y. — Samaritan Medical Center (SMC) has opened a new community-based imaging facility inside its Health and Wellness Plaza location at 1575 Washington St. in Watertown.
The imaging center’s opening is the culmination of an agreement finalized in February between Samaritan and the now closed Northern Radiology Imaging (NRI). In the agreement, Samaritan purchased all equipment from NRI and hired some of the practice’s staff.
Radiologists from NRI continue to provide image-interpretation services for Samaritan at all its locations, “as they have for years” through their private practice, called Northern Radiology Associates.
The new office — which formally opened June 28 — provides imaging services complete with MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), PET (positron emission tomography), and CT (computerized tomography) scans; ultrasound; x-ray; mammography; and stereotactic breast biopsies, Samaritan Health said.
It represents the latest development in Samaritan’s efforts to consolidate and align services, streamline patient access, and “enhance the continuity of care,” the organization said in a release.
SMC currently handles more than 100,000 radiology and imaging procedures per year.
Speaking at a formal-opening event for the imaging center, Thomas Carman, president and CEO of Samaritan Health, said the new facility wouldn’t have been possible without acquiring the assets from Northern Radiology Imaging.
“It really has allowed us to strengthen the partnership between the two organizations, Samaritan and Northern Radiology Associates … this will allow Samaritan to continue to provide high quality technical services and Northern Radiology Associates to provide those professional services that they do so well,” said Carman.
“This will truly be an outpatient community location where people can go and don’t have to go the main campus [of Samaritan Medical Center]. It’ll be a lot easier for our patients and for everyone that comes here as well,” he added.
King + King Architects of Syracuse designed the facility, Carman noted in his remarks.
Samaritan continues to offer imaging services including MRI, CT scan, ultrasound, X-ray and more at its main hospital location, plus X-ray and ultrasound services at various community-based sites. These sites provide access to walk-in and appointment-based imaging and lab services, the organization said.

MMRI researcher’s work gets a boost from AHA diversity-grant supplement
UTICA, N.Y. — Is there a connection between the development of heart disease and autism? That’s what researchers at the Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) are working to find out. Maria Kontaridis, executive director of MMRI, Professor Gordon Moe, and colleagues are researching that question using grant funding from the American Heart Association (AHA). Now,
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UTICA, N.Y. — Is there a connection between the development of heart disease and autism? That’s what researchers at the Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) are working to find out.
Maria Kontaridis, executive director of MMRI, Professor Gordon Moe, and colleagues are researching that question using grant funding from the American Heart Association (AHA). Now, with the help of an AHA supplement award, the ongoing project will continue, per a June 22 news release.
MMRI is a biomedical research institute that says it focuses on scientific research that “improves the health and quality of life for all.”
The grant — which promotes “diversity and excellence in science” — was awarded to Luana Nunes Santos, a postdoctoral fellow in the Kontaridis Laboratory.
“I am honored to have been awarded this grant and given the opportunity to continue working towards my dream,” Santos said in the release. “As a woman in science who is also from South America, it means a lot to have this support. It is the first check on the list to one day becoming an independent scientist and have my own lab.”
That grant funding follows a $300,000 transformational project award from the AHA to Kontaridis in November 2020.
The supplement totals more than $133,000 and spans a period of two years. It seeks to “support research experiences for predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in science under the mentorship of current AHA awardees,” MMRI said.
“This project would not have been possible without the support from the AHA. I am immensely proud to have Dr. Santos on my team, to be her mentor and to witness her success trajectory and growth as a scientist. This grant is well-deserved, and a testament to Dr. Santos’ skills, dedication, and ambition,” said Kontaridis, who became MMRI executive director in May 2020, after previously serving as the organization’s director of research.
About the project
The research project focuses on a specific mutation within the PTPN11 gene. Up to now, experiments have been centered around the use of inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Those are cells that can be differentiated into any tissue type of interest and are derived from patients with autism-causing mutations, according to MMRI.
The iPSCs have been converted into both heart-muscle cells and brain-organoid cells to study the effects of these novel PTPN11 mutations on heart disease and brain development.
With the supplement, Santos will also now be able to study these mutations in genetic-modified mouse models, which will allow for determination of the effects of these mutations in a mammalian system, and not just specific cells in a tissue-culture dish.
Santos’ work centers around conducting the heart-study experiments of this project.
Gulahn Ercan-Sencicek — an instructor in the Kontaridis Laboratory at MMRI — will focus on the brain-organoids portion of the study. Together, the group hopes to identify novel mechanisms of disease and identify potential therapeutics that can be used to treat patients with autism-associated cardiac disease.
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